QuakeIndex

Earthquake · reviewed by a seismologist

M 1.7md

21km NW of Parkfield, CA

· 7.7 km deep · released about 10 lb of TNT

Felt it? Tell USGS Check my area
10 km30 km60 km120 km N Monterey County 69 kmKings County 70 kmSan Luis Obispo County 73 kmSan Benito County 78 kmFresno County 117 km
Distance rings around the epicentre, with the nearest towns at their true direction and later quakes as coloured dots. Not a shaking map — see the USGS ShakeMap for that.
When
Magnitude
M 1.7 (md)
Depth
7.7 km below the surface
Felt
no reports yet
Nearest
Monterey County, 69 km WNW
Status
Reviewed by a seismologist

USGS · last changed by USGS · we first saw it 2083 days ago

This was a minor earthquake. Quakes this small are rarely felt and do not cause damage.

How big was it?

This earthquake released about 10 lb of TNT. Magnitude is logarithmic: each whole step up releases about 32 times more energy, so a magnitude 2.7 would have released about 32 times as much.

  1. Mineral, Virginia 2011 M 5.8 1,500,000× the energy of this one
  2. Magna, Utah 2020 M 5.7 1,100,000× the energy of this one
  3. Around the size people start to feel M 3.0 95× the energy of this one
  4. This earthquake M 1.7 about 10 lb of TNT

Energy from the Gutenberg–Richter relation (log10E = 1.5M + 4.8), rounded to two figures; bar length is magnitude, which is already a logarithm of energy. Magnitudes of past earthquakes from the USGS catalogue.

Where

Epicentre 36.0322, -120.5953. Map © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Nearby places

PlaceDistanceDirection
Monterey County, CA 69 km (43 mi) ESE of here earthquakes near Monterey County
Kings County, CA 70 km (44 mi) W of here earthquakes near Kings County
San Luis Obispo County, CA 73 km (45 mi) N of here earthquakes near San Luis Obispo County
San Benito County, CA 78 km (48 mi) SE of here earthquakes near San Benito County
Fresno County, CA 117 km (73 mi) SW of here earthquakes near Fresno County

Places and coordinates from the US Census Bureau Gazetteer (2024). Distances are from the epicentre.

Aftershocks so far

44 earthquakes have been recorded within 50 km since this one.

  1. 1.5 7km NNW of Cholame, CA
  2. 1.7 12km SW of Huron, CA
  3. 1.9 19km NNW of Coalinga, CA
  4. 2.0 12km NW of Parkfield, CA
  5. 2.7 12km NW of Parkfield, CA
  6. 1.7 12km NNW of Avenal, CA
  7. 2.3 17km NW of Parkfield, CA
  8. 1.7 4km NW of New Idria, CA
  9. 1.6 24km ENE of San Lucas, CA
  10. 2.4 13km SW of Cantua Creek, CA
  11. 1.6 22km NW of Parkfield, CA
  12. 1.6 16km NW of Parkfield, CA
  13. 2.0 22km ENE of San Lucas, CA
  14. 1.6 21km ENE of San Lucas, CA
  15. 1.8 10km NE of Coalinga, CA

Counted from the QuakeIndex database, which ingests the USGS feed every 30 seconds · as of . QuakeIndex does not forecast aftershocks. When USGS issues an operational aftershock forecast it appears on the USGS event page.

For this area

The largest earthquake within 50 km in our catalogue was M 4.3 on 2019-12-17 — it released about 8,200 times the energy of this one.

From the QuakeIndex catalogue, built from the USGS FDSN event service.

On USGS

QuakeIndex does not issue warnings. For earthquake early warning see ShakeAlert.